1. You’ll pray biblically-saturated, biblically-shaped prayers. This means you’ll have greater assurance that you’re praying the will of God. The Bible makes plain (in 1 John 5:14-15 specifically) that we must pray according to the will of God if we expect him to answer. Can you have any greater assurance that you are praying the will of God than when you are praying the Word of God?

2. You’ll be freed from the boring rut of saying the same about the same old things in prayer. You’ll continue to pray about the same things, because our lives tend to consist of the same things from one day to the next. Most things in our lives don’t change dramatically very often. But while you pray about the same things, you won’t say the same things.

3. You’ll not only pray about the same things in fresh ways every day, but you’ll pray about new things as well. When you pray the Bible, the text will suggest things for you to pray that you wouldn’t pray for if you had a prayer list as long as the New York City phone directory.

4. You’ll be more focused in prayer. Your mind won’t wander as much as it does when you pray the same old things every day. When you say the same old things every day your mind tends to go on auto-pilot in prayer. You find yourself able to say the words without thinking about them. But when you pray the Bible your mind has a place to focus. And when your thoughts do wander, you have a place to return to—the next verse.

“Put very simply, Satan’s power in the world is everywhere. Yet wherever men and women walk in the Spirit, sensitive to the anointing they have from God, that power of his just evaporates. There is a line drawn by God, a boundary where by virtue of his own very presence Satan’s writ does not run. Let God but occupy all the space himself, and what room is left for the evil one?”

When things go better and are starting to look up, BAM!, slapped in the face with greater evils you had before. It never fails. It happens every stinking time. It becomes a struggle to survive, rather than flourish, you have to focus to get a job completed. And the offender, of course, appears to be living large, enjoying life in full. For every pain they poke into your heart, they seem to get $100. Or more. You do everything right. You pray every prayer for the offender, for ourselves, in praise and worship. You read every verse in the Bible on the subject. You read well meaning books that are supposed to help. You ask other people to pray for you and your situation. You do everything right. And BAM!, slammed down again. Why? Is God not caring about your particular hardships? Well, no, because we are promised in His…

Church isn’t what we think it is. Some people think it is a building. Others think church is what we do when we are in a building at a certain time. But church is so much more than that. If you are a follower of Jesus – someone who has surrendered their life to God – you are the church. When believers get together, it is called a church gathering. There are a large number of church gatherings that are emptying out at a steady pace. There are many and varied reasons for this but the underlying reason is that church gatherings are dry. For too long the church has been busy with all sorts of things instead of creating an environment where people can experience God. People are not experiencing God in church gatherings because the church is not praying like it should. When we pray for others, things…